The Truth About Brain Injuries

* I want to thank Karen Moriarty of Lake Forest for her Oct. 26 letter telling the truth about surviving brain injury. With every story you publish about Amanda Arthur, my heart goes out to her mother, who must be slowly realizing that her daughter will never be the same.

It finally dawns on all of us at some point that we have lost the child we had raised to that date and now must learn to see the new perfection in the child that survives.

My son was injured while riding his bike 16 years ago, and now, at 27 years old, he is blessed to be able to bag groceries for Hughes Market, which deserves credit for hiring persons with handicaps.

I’d much rather it was a time in my son’s life that he was finishing graduate school, planning a future and living the American dream rather than a nightmare.

Because a young girl, while driving her car, waved to a friend at the park, my son lives his life with the isolation of being different. He takes medications every few hours to prevent seizures. He cannot read or write, and understanding and speaking language is forever difficult. These are just a few of his daily challenges and he faces them honorably.

Tragically, Amanda’s mother will someday understand that my challenge, as my son’s parent, has been to support him to live a full, loving, hard-working life, to be a good citizen and to never let him see how much my heart aches for and misses the child who “disappeared” when he was so severely injured that sad, sad day in 1981.

I send strength and courage to Amanda and her mother. And like Karen Moriarty, I hope your readers will glimpse what it is really like for a brain injury survivor and his or her family.

BARBARA H. HOWARD

San Clemente